Character Profile: Murphy (Sexuality)

For the theory side of the course, we had to pick a character from a TV drama and analyse how their sexuality is represented.

For this task, I have chosen Murphy, a convict from America that is experimented on for a cure to the virus, from Z Nation, a TV show about how a group survive in a post-apocalyptic world filled with zombies.

Murphy is heterosexual man in the series, he is shown as a stereotypical heterosexual  male, he is rude, somewhat lazy, and argumentative.

He has a low, rough voice, which is linked to the dominant ideologies of a heterosexual male.

However, through the storyline of the show, Murphy's character changes slightly. He becomes a father, and the mother of his daughter dies during labour, leaving Murphy to look after his child, Lucy. This goes against the stereotype of a heterosexual single parent typically being a woman.

After this, Murphy becomes a 'softer' character, he becomes more caring and considerate in order to protect his daughter. however he still treats the rest of his group with the typical rudeness, etc. of a heterosexual male. This action causes Murphy to Subvert dominant ideologies of a father as he becomes the one who has to take care of the child and take on the Mothering' role.